Test notes We'll be comparing the performance of the RE2 750GB with that of a slew of competitors, including some of the latest and greatest Serial ATA drives from Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. These drives differ when it comes to external transfer rates, spindle speeds, cache sizes, platter densities, NCQ support, and capacity, all of which can have an impact on performance. Keep in mind the following differences as we move through our benchmarks:

Max external
transfer rate

Spindle speed

Cache size

Platter size

Capacity

Native Command
Queuing?

Barracuda 7200.7
NCQ

150MB/s

7,200RPM

8MB

80GB

160GB

Yes

Barracuda 7200.8

150MB/s

7,200RPM

8MB

133GB

400GB

Yes

Barracuda 7200.9
(160GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

8MB

160GB

160GB

Yes

Barracuda 7200.9
(500GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

125GB

500GB

Yes

Barracuda 7200.10

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

188GB

750GB

Yes

Barracuda ES

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

188GB

750GB

Yes

Caviar SE16

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

83GB

250GB

No

Caviar SE16 (500GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

125GB

500GB

Yes

Caviar SE16 (750GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

188GB

750GB

Yes

Caviar RE2

150MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

100GB

400GB

Yes

Caviar RE2 (500GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

125GB

500GB

Yes

Deskstar 7K500

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

100GB

500GB

Yes

Deskstar 7K1000

300MB/s

7,200RPM

32MB

200GB

1TB

Yes

DiamondMax 10

150MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

100GB

300GB

Yes

DiamondMax 11

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

125GB

500GB

Yes

Raptor WD740GD

150MB/s

10,000RPM

8MB

37GB

74GB

No*

Raptor X

150MB/s

10,000RPM

16MB

75GB

150GB

Yes

Raptor WD1500ADFD

150MB/s

10,000RPM

16MB

75GB

150GB

Yes

RE2
(750GB)

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

188GB

750GB

Yes

SpinPoint T

300MB/s

7,200RPM

16MB

133GB

400GB

Yes

Note that the 250GB Caviar SE16 and the Raptor WD740GD lack support for Native Command Queuing. The WD740GD does support a form of command queuing known as Tagged Command Queuing (TCQ), but host controller and chipset support for TCQ is pretty thin. Our Intel 955X-based test platform doesn't support TCQ.

We have test results from several versions of Western Digital's Caviar SE16 and RE2. To avoid confusion, we'll be listing their capacities in parentheses in each of our graphs.

Since Seagate makes versions of the 7200.7 both with and without NCQ support, the 7200.7 in our tests appears as the "Barracuda 7200.7 NCQ" to clarify that it's the NCQ version of the drive. The other drives aren't explicitly labeled as NCQ drives because they're not available without NCQ support.

Finally, we should note that our WD1500ADFD has a slightly newer firmware revision than the Raptor X sample we've had since February, 2006. The drives still share identical internals, but firmware optimizations could give our newer Raptor an edge over the X in some tests.

Performance data from such a daunting collection of drives can make our graphs a little hard to read, so I've highlighted the RE2 750GB in bright yellow and its high-capacity competitors—the Barracuda 7200.10 and ES, the Deskstar 7K1000, and the Caviar SE16 750GB—in pale yellow to set them apart from the others. Since the RE2 is an enterprise drive, I've highlighted the 10K-RPM Raptor WD1500ADFD's performance in light yellow, as well. We also have two sets of IOMeter graphs: one with all the drives, and another with just the Deskstar and its 750GB rivals. Most of our analysis will be limited to how the 7K1000 compares with its direct rivals, so it should be easy to follow along.

Our testing methods All tests were run three times, and their results were averaged, using the following test system.